Centro de astrobiología asociado al NASA Astrobiology Institute

Molecular Evolution Department

Understanding life as a consequence of the evolution of the matter and energy in the Universe and, independently where it begun, other key questions are universal like: which was the prebiotic chemistry that led to the first complex polymers? How the different molecular species behaved and survived? How they replicated and acquired the capacity to storage and transmit information? How they evolved and adapted to the environment? How can we distinguish and detect true biomolecules (molecular biomarkers) from other non-biological organic molecules?

These and other questions constitute the scientific base of the Molecular Evolution Department. The research strategy is organized in three fundamental research lines that cover different molecular aspects from the prebiotic chemistry to the biochemical mechanisms for the adaptation to extreme environmental conditions: